Cigarette holder with tar collecting means

ABSTRACT

A cigarette holder equipped with a tar collecting filter of a cartridge type removably mounted therein, said filter comprises a vessel formed with a smoke inlet passage at one end thereof and a smoke outlet passage at the other end thereof, said smoke inlet passage comprising a first passage portion for leading a smoke stream toward an inner side wall of said vessel substantially perpendicularly thereto so as to have the smoke stream impinge onto said inner side wall and a second passage portion of a substantially same cross sectional area as said first passage portion and communicating with said first passage portion and adapted to lead the smoke stream over said inner side wall toward a body portion of said vessel while exerting an action of transferring tar caught on said inner side wall toward the body portion of said vessel.

Terasaki Sept. 4, 1973 CIGARETTE HOLDER WITH TAR COLLECTING MEANS [21] Appl. No.: 240,509

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 26, 1972 Japan 47/9065 Int. Cl. A24f 13/04 Field of Search 131/203, 205, 210, 131/216, 26l B, 187

1 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1936 Ikeda, 131/203 1,221,864 4/1917 Irving 131/216 x 2,112,013 3/1938 Gautron 131 210 x FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 421,319 12/1934 Great Britain 131/203 Primary Examiner-Joseph S. Reich Aztorneywoodhams, Blanchard & Flynn [57] ABSTRACT A cigarette holder equipped with a tar collecting filter of a cartridge type removably mounted therein, said filter comprises a vessel formed with a smoke inlet passage at one end thereof and a smoke outlet passage at the other end thereof, said smoke inlet passage comprising a first passage portion for leading a smoke stream toward an inner side wall of said vessel substantially perpendicularly thereto so as to have the smoke stream impinge onto said inner side wall and a second passage portion of a substantially same cross sectional area as said first passage portion and communicating with said first passage portion and adapted to lead the smoke stream over said inner side wall toward a body portion of said vessel while exerting an action of transferring tar caught on said inner side wall toward the body portion of said vessel.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures aivsslzsl PATENTEDSEP 4 ma FIG.

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FIG. 5

CIGARETTE HOLDER WITH TAR COLLECTING MEANS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a cigarette holder and more particularly a cigarette holder equipped with tar collecting means.

2. Description of the Prior Art It has been long discussed that the tar contained in tobacco smoke might be harmful to humans, and as countermeasures to the harmful effects of the tar, there have been proposed various kinds of pipes or cigarettes holders equipped with tar collecting means. In these coventionally known cigarette holders equipped with tar collecting means, tar is collected by leading the tobacco smoke through a layer of fibers and/or powder so that the tar particles adhere to the fibers and/or powder, that the tar is collected by leading the tobacco smoke through a layer of liquid, that the tar is collected by having the tobacco smoke inpinge onto a solid surface at a high velocity so that the tar particles adhere to the solid surface, or that the tar is collected by being electrostatically caught by applying an electric field to the flow of the tobacco smoke.

Of these conventional means of collecting the tar, the means depending upon the method of having the smoke impinge onto a solid surface at a high velocity have advantages that the capacity of collecting the tar is relatively larger as compared with the other means and that there is no fear that a specific smell of the filter is added to the smoke, and therefore, the tar collecting means of this kind have been used in various constructions.

Of the tar collecting means of the last-mentioned kind, there is known a particular means which is constructed as a cartridge of a vessel shape and adapted to be wholly replaced by a new one when the cartridge has beenfilled with the tar. collected therein. The tar collecting means of this kind is disclosed in my US. Pat. No. 3,702,118. This tar collecting means comprises a cylindrical vessel closed at one end thereof by an'end plate having an orifice through which smoke is introduced into the vessel to impinge thereafter onto an end face of a column member provided along the axis of the cylindrical vessel so that the tar particles contained in the smoke adhere to the end face of the column member and are caught thereby. The tar collecting means of this structure shows a good tar within the vessel. However, since this structure includes the column member of a relatively large diameter within the vessel, the inner volume of the vessel is much reduced, whereby the tar collecting capacity of thecartridge is correspondingly reduced. Furthermore, there is a drawback of this structure that it is a relatively difficult work to form the orifice of an opening area of about 0.2 mm to be provided in an opposing relation to the end face of the column member.

In another known structure of the tar collecting means constructed as a vessel cartridge, the smoke stream from an orifice is blown onto the inner wall of a cylindrical vessel substantially perpendicularly thereto. The tar collecting means of this structure has an advantage that the effective inner volume of the vessel is larger as compared with the structure having the column member. However, in contrast to the tar collecting operation by the column member, wherein the tar caught on the column member is pushed downstream of the direction of smoke flow by the subsequent flow of the smoke so as to be gradually transferred from the end face portion to a cylindrical side wall portion of the column member so that the end face of the column member or the tar collecting surface is always kept free of any accumulation of the tar so as to present a solid surface in good condition, the structure of blowing the smoke stream onto the inner surface of the vessel substantially perpendicularly thereto has a drawback that there occurs a stacking or accumulation of tar at the blowing position, whereby after a period of use no solid surface of good collection of the tar is presented to the smoke stream.

Furthermore, since a tar stack layer of a substantial thickness is formed at the smoke blowing position, a nozzle or nozzles for blowing the smoke must be positionedsubstantially apart from the inner wall of the vessel, whereby the impinging effect by blowing the smoke onto a 'solid surface is much reduced. Furthermore, this structure is also limited by the problem that the boring of the nozzle is a difficult work. In contrast to the case where the smoke stream is blown onto the end face of the column member along the axis of the cylindrical vessel, the smoke stream in this case is blown onto the inner side surface of the cylindrical vessel, and therefore, it is generally desirable that two or more nozzles are symmetrically provided about the axis of the vessel from the view point of the accumulation of the tar. In this case, the diameter of the nozzle must be smaller as the number of nozzles increases, whereby the difiiculty of boring the nozzles becomes more serious.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is the main object of this invention to remove the abovementioned drawbacks in the known tar collecting means of the vessel cartridge type, based, on the method of having the smoke impinge onto a solid surface at a high velocity, and toprovide an improved tar collecting means wherein the column member is removed to increase the effectiveinner volume of the vessel while avoiding occurrence of the accumulation of the tar at'a tar collectingposition where the smoke impinges to keep the tar collecting surface in good condition.

The abovementioned object is accomplished, according to this invention, by having a smoke stream impinge at a high velocity onto an inner side wall of a vessel substantially perpendicularly thereto at a portion adjacent one end of the vessel, and then leading the smoke stream while maintaining. its. high velocity toward a body portion of the vessel. According to the method, the tar component included in the smoke sticks to and is caught by the inner wall of the vessel by the smoke impinging onto the inner side wall substantially perpendicularly thereto, and furthermore, the tar caught on the inner side surface is gradually transferred from the position where it is first caught toward the body portion of the vessel by the action of the subsequent flow of smoke pushing the tar caught on the inner side wall toward the body portion of the vessel, whereby an accumulation of tar at the smoke impinging position is prevented, and therefore, the smoke impinging or tar collecting surface is always kept in good condition.

Another object of this invention is to provide a structure for the improved tar collecting means as described above wherein it is easily possible to form nozzles of a small diameter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the accompanying drawing,

FIG. 1 is a perspective outside view of an embodiment of the cigarette holder according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section of the cigarette holder along line II II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a filter to be mounted in the cigarette holder in a disassembled and partly broken condition for the purpose of illustration;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are plan and side views, respectively, of a grooved element forming the filter; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial view of a tar collecting portion of the filter, showing its structure in a section.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the following, this invention will be described more particularly by reference to a preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawing.

Referring to FIG. 1, which shows an outside view of an embodiment of the cigarette holder according to this invention, this embodiment of a cigarette holder 1 includes a cigarette mounting member 2, an intermediate member 3 and a mouthpiece member 4 adapted to be assembled together in a manner as shown in FIG. 2 which is a longitudinal section along line II II in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cigarette mounting member 2, the intermediate member 3 and the mouthpiece member 4 are assembled together by screw engagement at threaded engaging portions 5 and 6. The cigarette mounting member 2 comprises a cigarette mounting bore 7 which is in communication, through a restricted opening 8, with a filter mounting chamber 9, in which is mounted a filter 10 as described in detail hereinunder.

The intermediate member 3 has an internal wall 11 adapted to define a lower portion of the filter mounting chamber 9 by being positioned below the cigarette mounting member. The intermediate member 3 includes a packing ring 12 fixed by a proper means such as an adhesive.

The mouthpiece member 4 is formed with a filter mounting chamber 14 at its upper portion for mounting a conventional filter 13 made of a proper perforated material or fibers and is also formed with suction bore 15 connected with the filter mounting chamber 14.

The filter 10 is supported at its upper end by a shoulder portion formed around the restricted opening 8 via a packing ring 16, and at its lower end by a packing ring 12 mounted to the intermediate member 3. The filter 10 can be readily taken out of the cigarette holder by disassembling the cigarette holding member 2 from the intermediate member 3 at the threaded engaging portion 5. The filter 13 is supported at its upper end by the packing ring 12 of the intermediate member 3, and at its lower end by a shoulder portion 17 of the mouthpiece member 4. The filter 13 can be readily taken out of the cigarette holder by disassembling the intermediate member 3 from the mouthpiece member 4 at the threaded engaging portion 6.

FIG. 3 shows the filter 10 in a disassembled and partly broken condition for the purpose of illustration.

The filter 10 is composed of a cylindrical vessel 18, an orifice plate 19 and a grooved element 20, the latter two being adapted to be mounted at an open end of the vessel. At the open end, the vessel 18 has a shoulder portion 21 adapted to support the orifice plate 19 and the grooved element 20, and at its bottom portion it has an opening 23 framed by a projected edge 22 (see FIG. 2).

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the grooved element 20, which is a plate element, especially a disk in this case, has grooves 24 in its opposite faces and notches 25 in its side wall, the notches 25 communicating with the grooves 24 in the opposite faces of the grooved element. The cross sectional area of these grooves and notches may be varied according to the number of the grooves. In the embodiment shown in the drawing, wherein four grooves are provided in each face of the grooved element, it is desirable that the cross sectional area is about 0.4 mm X 0.4 mm 0.16 mm*.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view in an enlarged scale of the open end portion of the vessel 18 where the orifice plate 19 and the grooved element 20 are mounted. By mounting the grooved element 20 at the open end of the vessel 18 to be supported by the shoulder portion 21 of the vessel, and thereafter the orifice plate 19 in close contact with the grooved element, there are formed first smoke passages 26 along the grooves 24 between theorifice plate 19 and the grooved element 20 and second smoke passages 27 along the notches 25 between the grooved element 20 and an inner side wall 28 of the vessel 18, the second smoke passage communicating perpendicularly with the first smoke passage.

In operation of the cigarette holder having the structure as described above, the tobacco smoke generated in a cigarette due to a suction applied at the suction bore 15 is led through a central orifice 29 of the orifice plate 19 to be dividedly introduced into the four smoke passages 26. Since the smoke passages 26 have a relatively small cross sectional area such as described above, the smoke streams are accelerated as they flow through the smoke passages in the direction shown by Arrow A, and then the smoke streams impinge onto the inner side wall 28 at a relatively high velocity. Upon the impingement, the smoke stream changes abruptly its direction of flow by to then follow the smoke passage 27 in the direction shown by Arrow B. However, at the time of impingement of the smoke stream onto the inner side wall 28, the tar particles suspended in the smoke stream stick onto the inner side wall and are caught thereon. The tar having stuck on the inner side wall 28 is urged by the smoke stream flowing in the dirction of Arrow B and gradually transferred over the inner side wall 28 in the direction of Arrow B beyond the shoulder portion 21 toward the body portion of the vessel 18 to be accumulated therein. The smoke introduced into the body portion of the vessel 18 through the smoke passages 26 and 27 is led out of the vessel 18 through the opening 23, and then through the filter 13 made of a perforated material or fibers so as to remove the remaining tar component. Thereafter, the smoke is sucked out of the cigarette holder 1 through the suction bore 15.

As described above, according to this invention, the smoke is not only blown against the inner side wall of the vessel 18 perpendicularly thereto but also led toward the body portion of the vessel 18 over the inner side wall thereof after having impinged onto the inner side wall and been diverted 90 while keeping the high velocity at the time of impingement onto the inner side wall, whereby it is accomplished to successively remove the tar from the smoke impinging surface and prevent an accumulation of tar on the smoke impinging surface. The, tar accumulated in the vessel 18 is prevented from leaking out of the opening 23 by the projected edge 22.

According to this invention, the smoke passages 26 for accelerating smoke streams to be blown against a solid surface at a high velocity are provided by closing the open sides of the grooves 24 of an open type formed in the grooved element by another plate member or the orifice plate 19, whereby the smoke passages having a very small cross sectional area such as 0.4 mm X 0.4 mm 0.16 mm can readily be formed. lt will be appreciated that it is much easier to form a groove of an open type such as the groove 24 having a small cross sectional area than to form a bore of the same cross sectional area by a drill. Therefore, according to this invention, the cross sectional area of the smoke passages can be reduced to a very small area, while in turn the number of the smoke passages operating in parallel can be correspondingly increased. it is favorable to use the smoke passages of a smaller cross sectional area, because by using the smoke passages of a smaller cross sectional area, the smoke is blown against a solid surface as a correspondingly thinner stream, and this is very effective for increasing the efficiency of catching tar particles contained in the smoke stream.

The grooved element 20 is preferably formed with the grooves 24 in opposite faces thereof so that the grooved element 20 may be mounted in the vessel 18 regardless of its mounting direction in an assembling process of the filter 10.

I claim: 1

1. A cigarette holder formed with a cigarette mounting bore opening at one end thereof, a suction bore opening at the other end thereof and a filter mounting chamber communicating said cigarette mounting bore with said suction bore, a filter removably mounted in said filter mounting chamber, said filter comprising a substantially cylindrical vessel which is open at one end thereof and having a smoke outlet passage at the other end thereof, a first disk element disposed in said vessel and having a plurality of open-topped grooves, extending radially outwardly from the central portion of said first disk member, said first disk element also having notches in the side wall thereof with each notch being in communication with an upper of said grooves, a second disk element formed with an orifice at the central portion thereof, said second disk element being mounted on top of said first disk element with said orifice communicating with the radially inner ends of said grooves and with the remainder of'said second disk e1ement closing the open tops of said grooves, said first and second disk elements being disposed across said open end of said vessel so as substantially to close said open end of said vessel and to define a smoke inlet passage into said vessel, said smoke inlet passage comprising first passage portions defined by said grooves for leading a smoke stream substantially perpendicularly toward the inner side wall of said vessel and second passage portions defined by said notches communicating with said first passage portions and extending substantially perpendicularly thereto, said second passage portions being adapted to lead the smoke stream along said inner side wall into the remainder of said vessel.

2. A cigarette holder according to claim 1, wherein said grooves are formed in opposite faces of said first disk element.

3. A cigarette holder according to claim 1, wherein said vessel is formed with a shoulder portion at said open end for receiving and positioning said disk elements.

4. A cigarette holder according to claim 1, wherein said smoke outlet passage is surrounded by an upstanding edge which projects toward said disk members.

5. A cigarette holder according to claim I, wherein the cigarette holder comprises a first housing member formed with said cigarette mounting bore and a second housing member removably connected with said first housing member, wherein said filter mounting chamber is defined by cooperating parts of said first and second housing members in a manner such that, when said first and second housing members are disengaged from each other, at least one end portion of said filter is exposed.

6. A cigarette holder according to claim 1, wherein a packing ring is mounted in said fillter mounting chamber overlying said open end portion of said vessel and said first and second disk elements. 

1. A cigarette holder formed with a cigarette mounting bore opening at one end thereof, a suction bore opening at the other end thereof and a filter mounting chamber communicating said cigarette mounting bore with said suction bore, a filter removably mounted in said filter mounting chamber, said filter comprising a substantially cylindrical vessel which is open at one end thereof and having a smoke outlet passage at the other end thereof, a first disk element disposed in said vessel and having a plurality of open-topped grooves, extending radially outwardly from the central portion of said first disk member, said first disk element also having notches in the side wall thereof with each notch being in communication with an upper of said grooves, a second disk element formed with an orifice at the central portion thereof, said second disk element being mounted on top of said first disk element with said orifice communicating with the radially inner ends of said grooves and with the remainder of said second disk element closing the open tops of said grooves, said first and second disk elements being disposed across said open end of said vessel so as substantially to close said open end of said vessel and to define a smoke inlet passage into said vessel, said smoke inlet passage comprising first passage portions defined by said grooves for leading a smoke stream substantially perpendicularly toward the inner side wall of said vessel and second passage portions defined by said notches communicating with said first passage portions and extending substantially perpendicularly thereto, said second passage portions being adapted to lead the smoke stream along said inner side wall into the remainder of said vessel.
 2. A cigarette holder according to claim 1, wherein said grooves are formed in opposite faces of said first disk element.
 3. A cigarette holder according to claim 1, wherein said vessel is formed with a shoulder portion at said open end for receiving and positioning said disk elements.
 4. A cigarette holder according to claim 1, wherein said smoke outlet passage is surrounded by an upstanding edge which projects toward said disk members.
 5. A cigarette holder according to claim 1, wherein the cigarette holder comprises a first housing member formed with said cigarette mounting bore and a second housing member removably connected with said first housing member, wherein said filter mounting chamber is defined by cooperating parts of said first and second housing members in a manner such that, when said first and second housing members are disengaged from each other, at least one end portion of said filter is exposed.
 6. A cigarette holder according to claim 1, wherein a packing ring is mounted in said filter mounting chamber overlying said open end portion of said vessel and said first and second disk elements. 